By Thomas Lombardo, PhD
Member of the ApFi Scientific Council
A few days ago I emailed to colleagues and friends the following short statement:
As you probably are doing as well, I am watching coverage of the horrendous and immensely depressing events occurring in our world. I am not simply saying the events in Ukraine, since although it is at the center of this cyclone of moral catastrophe, what is happening in this one country reflects the mentality of our current human planetary reality—the state of our “modern” civilization. And the evil and carnage being inflicted on this brave country is having a deep impact on the world as a whole. The ugliness, depravity, and tragic destructiveness permeates outward, invading and infecting all of our conscious minds. Although there is a pervasive and intense global counter-reaction to the stupidity and evil of the attack on Ukraine, at some point in our evolution perhaps we will collectively realize that “enough is enough,” and we will create a way to stop such horrible realities from gestating and occurring within human society.
In this statement I emphasize that the Russian invasion and attack on Ukraine is not simply a regional catastrophe but rather a planetary problem requiring a planetary solution.
It is the collective reality of humanity—the nations, cultures, organizations, businesses, and general population—that has afforded and allowed this horrendous event to materialize and occur. Of course, there is a cluster of individuals in Russia, led by one individual, who is fundamentally responsible for the Ukraine invasion, but we have fed (through trade and economic transactions), tolerated, and watched this monster grow, as we busied and occupied ourselves with other concerns.
The effects of this war—the psychological, social, and economic-physical impact—is worldwide. It has become an emotional trauma experienced across the globe, and the multi-faceted stress and upheaval will in all probability intensify and worsen in both the short- and long-term future. The disaster is rippling out across humanity, infecting the entire earth.
I have asked myself—and people I know have mirrored and reinforced this perplexity and frustration—why the world as a whole (for example, the United Nations) seems impotent at stopping this disaster. People in Ukraine keep getting killed every day, and towns keep getting decimated, and yet the best we seem able to do in response is to talk, debate, condemn, and impose sanctions. Of course, we are sending immense humanitarian aid to help the millions of refugees, and we are supplying the Ukrainians with weapons and military resources, but the bully is still bloodying women and children in front of the eyes of the world, and tragically and shamefully we cannot muster the planetary force, courage, and wherewithal to stop the bully from continuing his assault.
A friend of mine pointed out that such disasters—of humanity’s inhumanity against itself—occur across the globe and have occurred throughout human history. This fact, though, only makes the current disaster so much worse; it is not an anomaly, but a repeated occurrence. It is a destructive and horrendous pattern of behavior that keeps happening.
When I reread my original statement, I realized that it was highly emotionally charged. We can, through various media and information sources, access the relevant up-to-date facts pertaining to this event; we can listen to or read various analyses and probabilistic projections and scenarios about where the whole thing could be heading; and we can ponder the reasons and causes behind the invasion and think about what it all means, but these are all cognitive approaches to the invasion.
Of course it is important to understand, but what is really striking about this event and its local and planetary impact is the intense emotional response to it. This event is generating an incredible amount of human stress, hatred, fear, terror, anxiety, despair, depression, love and compassion, anger, and even visceral nausea.
A big part of the meaning of this event is embodied in our emotional response, and a big part of what will move events in the future will be human emotions. The remarkable planetary outcry around the event is shaking the world. One cannot understand this event or understand where it will lead without taking into account the emotional dimension of this reality.
Another point of emphasis in my original short statement has to do with ethics. I described the invasion as an evil action. Although our national and global consciousness, and its numerous and varied expressions in our media, is permeated with multiple and often conflicting perspectives on reality and what is morally right and wrong, it seems that the invasion is unequivocally an evil act. Although we might hesitate to use the word “evil” to describe either human individuals or their actions, I believe that such an attitude is naive.
We have witnessed evil throughout human history. We need to acknowledge that this invasion and those who support it are embodiments of evil. We could say that the war is a political war, one of democracy versus authoritarianism, but responsible self-determination versus forceful subjugation of individuals, as political philosophies and practices, is fundamentally an ethical issue.
Of course, the Russian government and media present an alternative narrative of what is occurring in Ukraine and the reasons and causes behind it, attempting to justify their actions. But it clearly appears that this alternative interpretation is grounded in numerous falsehoods. It is an ethical and political position built on lies. As such, it is not ethical, for truth is foundational to any credible ethics. It is clear that the war in Ukraine is a struggle for good on a planetary scale against the threat of evil on a planetary scale.
Part of a planetary ethics should be a rejection of the forceful and violent subjugation of individuals or nations, as well as a universally practiced conscientious support of what is true. But a planetary ethics needs to embody other important values as part of a holistic vision of human well-being. Of special note, individual and collective human well-being must transcend a purely economic/materialistic vision of the good life.
In this regard, watching the news on major TV networks, I have been repeatedly struck by the regular intrusion of commercials that are shallow and self-indulgent marketing ploys endeavoring to identify the “good life” as one found in the endless consumption of the advertiser’s products. The world might be falling apart, but luxury cars, techno-enhanced office chairs, cruises, cheeseburgers, deodorants, and drugs galore still get hammered into our consciousness—a perpetual trivial sea of pleasures and distractions.
Especially at this point in time such bread and circuses seems totally oblivious to what deeply matters in life; it all seems ridiculous if not obscene. A good deal of our ethical failings at a global level is a consequence of prioritizing money, profit, and riches and the power it brings over a life of psychological and social well being for all of humanity. It is imperative that we establish a positive and effective ethical system for humanity at a planetary level which takes precedence in human affairs. The Russian invasion indicates that such a planetary ethical consciousness has not yet emerged worldwide.
When is enough going to be enough?
